You can remove dents and dings from a stock without removing the finish from the dent, though it does require some lateral thinking and like many things extremely simple when you know how.
To raise dents without removing the finish you will need the tools in the photographs plus some Alcohol as high percentage as you can obtain and some pure Cotton Wool, it must not have any man made fibres in its make up.
First clean the dent in the wood thoroughly then use the needle to make as many fine holes through the finish into the wood as you can, from the photograph you will see that I prefer to use a sewing machine needle because they are extremely sharp and very strong. I like to hold the needle in a British pattern pin vice because it adds some weight making it far easier the push the needle into the wood, one word of caution do not wiggle the needle you are after small nearly undetectable holes through the finish.
Next shape a piece of Cotton wool to cover the dent I aim for about a quarter to three eighths of an inch thick, then saturate with Alcohol then press with a finger to drive the Alcohol into the wood through the holes you have made through the finish. Keeping the cotton wool saturated with Alcohol and forcing it into the wood the more successful will be the outcome.
Now the heat source that does have to be really hot and small the Item I have never found to be bettered is one of the tools of my Trade the Soldering Iron and a man can not survive with only one as you see, because they are available in many sizes and wattages though I will say that no larger than 150 Watts over you stand a good chance of scorching the wood. Because of the heat in such a small area this causes the Alcohol to vaporise very quickly forcing the wood fibers to swell. I have found that the heat also makes the surface finish pliable so enabling it to move so choose the size of the Iron to match the size of the dent, I must say that if you dont use pure Cotton Wool any man made fibers will just melt and stick to everything as well ad holding the Alcohol the Cotton keeps the hot iron away from the surface.
To repair the area I just rub the area with a small pad of 000 wire wool soaked with Linseed finishing oil into the area filling the holes.